Boom Goes The Dynamite

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, half of which was the blog's first alma mater in the biz, has done us all an estimable service to putting online all the documents that were jacked out of the Archdiocese there as part of the bankruptcy proceedings resulting from thousands of cases of sexual abuse by priests of said Archdiocese. Needless to say, nobody comes out looking very good. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church comes out of them looking very much like an organization that should be disbanded and fed piecemeal -- hierarchy first -- into a woodchipper. One guy molested 50 people in 11 parishesbefore anything happened to him, and not very much did. The sheer magnitude of the criminality is stunning, and this is one archdiocese, and not the biggest one, either.

I would call your attention, though, to the documents and exhibits concerning the time spent in Milwaukee by Dolan Of New York, who has been one of the prime mouthpieces of the phony "religious liberty" argument by which HMC presumes to deny to its Presbyterian cleaning ladies their ladyparts medicine as required by the Affordable Care Act. Dolan is also one of those happy-priest nuisances who thinks he looks cute in a Yankees cap. In Milwaukee, it turns out, he was pretty much Winston Wolf.

Four years before the Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed for bankruptcy, then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan sought Vatican approval to move nearly $57 million in cemetery funds off the archdiocese's books and into a trust to help protect them "from any legal claim or liability," according to documents made public Monday.

And I don't want to hear about how Dolan's goodhearted attempts to defrock abusive priests were foiled by the Vatican bureaucracy. I haven't lived in Milwaukee since 1976, and I still know how to get from the Chancery to MPD headquarters, and the DA's office downtown.

"The revelations are shameful and shocking," said Minnesota attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who represents most of the 575 men and women who filed claims in the bankruptcy alleging they were sexually abused by priests, nuns, teachers and others associated with the Milwaukee archdiocese. Anderson accused local bishops, including Dolan, of worrying more about the church's reputation than the care of victims, and of perpetuating a culture of secrecy that has been seen in dioceses around the country for decades. They "deny, minimize, blame," Anderson said. Dolan issued a statement saying he welcomed the release of his deposition. He derided allegations that he shifted money into the cemetery trust to shield it in case of a bankruptcy filing and paid abusive priests to quietly go away as "old and discredited attacks." According to the documents, Dolan paid $20,000 to abusive priests who agreed not to fight their dismissal from the priesthood. But records show the practice dated to at least 1995, seven years before he arrived in Milwaukee. Critics have characterized the payments as payoffs or bonuses to sex abusers. But Dolan said in his statement Monday that canon law requires dioceses to provide "basic support like health care and room and board" for priests until they have moved on.

Shut up. You have no credibility. Neither does the institution you represent. Neither does "canon law," which plainly failed here. Slink away in shame. Take your church with you. I'll keep mine with me.

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